Supermarket selling cars on web

Supermarkets are already trying their hand at selling car insurance, but now a German store has gone a step further by selling cars.

On its website discount supermarket Lidl is offering the Opel Corsa for just under 11,000 euros (£10,000) and the Volkswagen Cross Polo for 14,000 euros (£12,800) - a discount of about 25%.

German car distributor ATG-Automobile is also behind the move.

New car sales in the country were up 21% in February year-on-year after the German government started a plan that pays people 2,500 euros (£2,300) to replace cars at least nine years old with new ones.

Even though Germany's economy is in recession Lidl believes it can turn a profit.

But Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, the director of the Centre for Automotive Research in Gelsenkirchen, said that previous efforts to sell cars online and through supermarkets have faltered.

"I think it will be very difficult for Lidl," he said. "People don't want to buy high-value products from a discount grocery store."